Village applies for grant to study sewer seepage

Good news came only as a possibility, not a promise, last week concerning the village’s leaking sewage lagoons.

The board of trustees approved a grant application during their regular monthly meeting on Oct. 14 that if awarded would help pay for a study required before fixing the seepage issue at the lagoons.

The village received a notice of violation in August from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality stating that seepage from the lagoons exceeds the daily allowable amount and that it must be corrected.

Miller & Associates of Kearney, the village’s engineering firm, has been working on a plan of action.

Reed Miller told trustees that approximately 33,500 gallons of wastewater are transmitted per day to the lagoon.

If the pump is moving 125 gallons an hour as it should, seepage far exceeds the eighth-inch per day state standard.

“That’s not a good thing,” Miller said.

The one cell being used measures approximately an acre, Miller said. To meet state standards with the current sandy bottom, the village would need 5.9 acres.

The total land available is 7.6 acres in four cells but Miller said three of the cells are not being used.

Soil conditioner could be added to reduce the seepage but Miller said that option may be more costly than an impermeable liner. The liner, though, would require more square footage.

“I know that’s not the outcome you wanted,” he said, “but that’s the facts.”

Jackie Houpt, also of Miller & Associates, presented the trustees with a community development block grant application that if awarded would provide funds from NDEQ for a planning study to correct the sewer problem.

The grant total is $23,275 with a match of $7,125 required from the village.

That grant, awarded in January, doesn’t provide any funds to actually fix the problem, only money for the study portion of the project.

Miller said he couldn’t provide an estimated cost for repair until the study is done.

NDEQ gave the village until July 2010 to remedy the problem.

In other business, the board was questioned during the public comment portion of the meeting by resident Jeff Snyder concerning the village’s agreement for trash removal.

Snyder said Schaben Sanitation has told him he cannot use a roll-off dumpster from another company for his private construction work because the village has a contract with Schaben in place.

Snyder said he’s been using a roll-off from Mike’s Sanitation of Gothenburg for four months and has been charged roughly $90 total. The same dumpster from Schaben would cost about $90 a month, he said.

“I’m wondering if the village is going to pay the difference since you’re tying my hands with this Schaben contract,” Snyder said. “It’s a free country. I should be able to choose who I do business with.”

Snyder also questioned whether the village looked into any other sanitation companies before extending Schaben’s contract.

Trustee Stacey Miles told Snyder some board members were unaware of the situation.

“It’s something we’re definitely going to look into,” she said.

In other action, Brady trustees:

learned from Nancy Striebel, executive director of Lincoln County Community Development Corporation, that work will begin soon on an owner/occupied housing rehabilitation project. The board also voted to release a lien on a previous rehab property.

approved wording changes to three ordinances to update the monthly meeting time to 7 p.m. and change franchise company names for SourceGas and Consolidated Telephone.

approved the annual audit for the community planning grant.

recommended approval by the state liquor commission for a liquor license at the Feed Bunk. The licensee name will now be Jacqui Hansen.

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